Happy New Year!!

As each new year starts we all say, I can't believe it is 2015 (or insert every other year of your life).  But this new year marks my first full year of being plant-based!  I am so thrilled that I made it through and determined to be without any animals products this year.

It is hard.  Hard making foods for a family that is omnivores.  Hard eating dinners with family members who, while they try to understand, just don't understand why you won't have a bite.  I never tried for perfection but each day that I fell I picked myself back up and tried again.

I had the occasional slice of cheese pizza at Costco (cheese is still hard for me) and I had the occasional sushi roll (my husband and my favorite place for date nights).  But that is ok.  It is ok at keep working toward a goal.  It is ok to stumble.  We just keeping trying each and everyday.

I don't make New Years Resolutions anymore.  I, like everyone else, tend to fail at them within the first week.  I don't want to set that kind of tone for the year.  I joined a gym in October is last year and so I don't have to worry about that.  I am vegan (plant-based) so my diet is pretty healthy.  My main goal is to take each day, stumble or not and try my best.

If you are starting down the plant-based/vegan road this year then I applaud you.  I applaud you for taking your health and diet (not the kind to loose weight but as in the food you eat).  I applaud you for putting compassion towards earthlings first.  While I am a plant-based/vegan for health reasons, I love love love that my eating to live does not include the suffering of animals.

Join me as I again try to make my blog and communication a daily, if not weekly practice.

Vegan Ice Cream... A nice substitute!

I was so excited when I first received this book to review from Blogging for Books.  Although we are not big ice cream eaters it is something that we enjoy.  I purchased a nice ice cream maker from Costco many years ago and only made one ice cream... since becoming vegan I honestly thought it was time to sell it.  But then I got this book.

My mind began to whirl... not only could my family enjoy vegan ice cream but I could make it from scratch with real ingredients.  So I opened the book.  Most of the ingredients are easy enough to find.  But some seemed daunting... young coconut flesh for example.  But there are many fun variations on everyone's favorite ice creams which is nice to see.

But where to start?  My husband and kids love chocolate ice cream (actually chocolate anything!) but strawberries were just coming into season and I thought that was the best place to start.  The ingredient list for the strawberry was only four items long... awesome!  It was super easy to make.  You basically throw all the ingredients in a blender and put into the ice cream maker.  The verdict was good.  The family enjoyed it but it was not ice cream.  It was a nice vegan sherbet or sorbet.  This was definitely one we will make again.

When it came time for the chocolate I was super excited.  I would love the have a chocolate ice cream recipe on hand so I could whip it up anytime my family asked.  All of this recipes ingredients were in my pantry already so it was easy to throw together.  Unlike the strawberry recipe this one called for cashews.  Many vegan recipes I have encountered use cashews to make a cream sauce so I was used to this.  But I don't think my blender was powerful enough to fully puree them.

After putting it into the ice cream maker I could already tell that the texture would be off.  When it was done I scooped it out for my kids.  The 6 year old loved it but the 4 year old spit it out.  I thought the flavor was spot on but it was a textural thing.  I am sure if I had a Vitamix I would be raving but sadly I do not.

All in all... I think this book has some amazing ideas.  I look forward to branching out and trying many more of them.  I feel some added weight already forming!!

Vegan Carrot Dogs!

Ok... I follow a ton of vegans, on Facebook and Instagram.  The "Carrot Dog" thing has been making its rounds.  I have been hesitant to try it since my husband and I both agree that if you want to be vegan why should you eat "pretend meat".  Does that mean that you secretly want to go back to eating meat?  But that is another subject.

I pushed aside the idea of making these carrot dogs for months now... but we have a big camping trip planned and hot dogs and camping seem to go hand in hand.  They are such an easy food to prepare and they are hand held.  So I sucked it up and found a recipe.  One of my oldest friends posted on her Instagram that she made them... so I asked her for the recipe...

She referred me to the Clean Eating Veggie Girl.  This is the recipe that I followed... Vegan Carrot "Hot Dogs".  I have to say that I was so amazed at how good these were.  I mean, honestly, how could a carrot in any way resemble a hot dog.  But the crunch of the carrot was gone and all the marinade had taken over and made this super smoky goodness.

After taking the photo I added ketchup, mustard and sauerkraut... my favorite hot dog toppings.  But the skies the limit with these puppies.  They actually give you the feeling of a hot dog without all the... the... processed gross-ness that they are.  I got my 6 year old to take a bite but he spit it out.  I think he will come around one day.  My husband has yet to try them but I am hopeful.

These are fantastic and I look forward to joining around the campfire with my omnivorous friends on our camping trip... score one for vegans!!!

Where do I get my recipes?

I get many questions regarding all my vegan food posts.  My favorite has been... Do you really cook all that food?  But most people want to know where I get my recipes from.

Since becoming a whole food plant based family I have been cooking for my family fresh, non processed meals.  Almost everything I make come out of a cookbook.  I have 6 cookbooks that I utilize when planning meals for my family (which is another post in of itself).

If you follow me on instagram @plantbasedhousewife you will notice that the first three hashtags are always the same... #plantbasedhousewife #plantbased #plantstrong.  The 4th one will always be the cookbook that I got it from.  Below you will find the list of my favorite cookbooks:

Isa Does It

Happy Herbivore Cookbook

Everyday Happy Herbivore

Happy Herbivore Abroad

Happy Herbivore Light and Lean

Forks Over Knives

I will keep a list of the recipes that I cook out of each book, along with my review and the review of my omnivore husbands.  Cooking in an omnivore household is very challenging and rewarding when they like it!

Spice Cake Surprise

There are few things that I love more than cake... my children, my husband and Jesus.  But cake comes right after that.  Lately I have been making more and more of them.  But when they come out of the Happy Herbivore cookbooks you know that you are getting a low-fat homemade dish that is always delicious.

I also love that my pantry is generally well stocked since we made the leap to a WFPB (whole food plant based) lifestyle.  I wanted something sweet and came across this recipe in Happy Herbivore Light and Lean.  This cake was a cinch to put together and even more enjoyable to eat.  My kids loved it, my husband loved it and I did too!

I can't wait to bake this for my bible study and family dinners!

Coming Soon...

I am working on transitioning my old blog to this one.  Keep on the lookout for updates!!